GLASGOW: The UAE and the International Renewable Energy Agency on Wednesday announced the launch of a new global climate finance facility to accelerate the transition to renewable energy in developing countries.
The UAE committed $400 million in funding provided by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development toward the platform’s goal of securing a minimum of $1 billion in total funding.
The formal launch of the Energy Transition Accelerator Financing Platform took place on the sidelines of the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow.
UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan said: “The new ETAF platform reinforces our long-standing commitment to support positive climate action for economic growth in developing and vulnerable countries.”
Sultan Al-Jaber, UAE special envoy for climate and minister of industry and advanced technology, said: “This is the kind of initiative that combines partnership, policy and finance to create tangible progress, and it is this focus on practical results that has motivated the UAE to offer to host COP28 in 2023.”
Through co-financing, ETAF will aim to mobilize an additional $2 billion in energy transition investments, targeting a total deployment of 1.5 GW of clean renewable energy generation and storage by 2030. ETAF will be managed by IRENA from its Abu Dhabi headquarters, capitalizing on the UAE’s climate finance market and renewable energy innovation infrastructure. The new accelerator platform will help mitigate investment risks and finance renewable energy projects in developing countries that may otherwise struggle to secure sufficient capital.
Francesco La Camera, the director-general of IRENA, said: “We encourage multilateral development banks, international financial institutions, governments, and private sector actors to join us in bolstering sustainable development efforts.”
The ETAF platform will source projects on an ongoing basis, supplemented by calls for proposals aligned with Paris Agreement and SDG milestones.